Arsenal 2 – 1 Aston Villa
1 – 0 Cazorla (6)
1 – 1 Weimann (66)
2 – 1 Cazorla (85)
The anniversary of the death of Bobby Moore reminds me of happier Arsenal times. Plough Lane, August 1988. On that balmy Summer day, Wimbledon had not just been beaten but utterly destroyed, Alan Smith grabbing a hat-trick as George Graham’s charges took their first steps on the way to their League title. I had been entirely unaware of Moore until the final whistle, absorbed by the match and enjoying the victory. We turned to queue – in an orderly manner – and my gaze fell upon the former England captain, conducting his broadcasting duties for LBC. Shock and awe has long since been misappropriated by the undesirable elements of life but that was the impact twenty-five years ago.
I stumbled across the back page of my cheque book (ask your parents kids) recently, a green scrap carrying a unique signature above one other. George Graham was equally magnanimous that day albeit surprised to find a twenty two year old lad wandering through the dressing room area unchallenged. “That was brilliant“, give or take an adjective or two, was how I described the win as he signed with a grin; the politeness of my thanks for the signature probably saving me fromejection from the inner sanctum.
Would the Premier League welcome an unimproved non-league ground into their fold now? Probably not. Did I say probably…How football has changed.
And yet it stays the same; the result was all that mattered.
Arsenal knew that the points were needed and on a biting afternoon, they delivered. It was not a smooth, cohesive performance but given recent results, that was not surprising. The imperative out of the afternoon was to keep the pressure on the Champions League places and in that sense, a draw at Eastlands this afternoon would best serve their purpose.
The home side got off to the perfect start. Cazorla and Wilshere served early notice of Arsenal’s intent but Villa did not take notice; Cazorla found space in the area and when his initial strike was blocked, the Spaniard drilled the rebound through a forest of legs, past Guzan. The visitors reborn confidence was evident as they sought a hit and run equaliser. Gabby Agbonlahor is the footballing equivalent of Kevin Rowlands – stunning in the early days with sporadic hints of glory in a meandering career – and was a thorn in Arsenal’s side for the afternoon. His rapid response to Cazorla’s opener served notice that the Premier League strugglers were not going to give up easily.
As much as the visitors pressed, Szczesny proved to be a formidable barrier, denying N’Zogbia as Villa pressed forward. All the while Arsenal were struggling to capitalise on their early advantage, passing but going nowhere, offering no threat for a significant spell in the first half. But they dug in and did not capitulate, a policy which served them well as the half drew to its close.
The storm weathered, Arsenal came back into the match. Diaby and Giroud combined to offer Walcott a sight of goal, his effort curled wide of the post. Giroud was denied followed good work from Cazorla and once more following Arteta’s shot but Arsenal were stuttering, too many languid performances in the centre of the pitch were allowing Villa to seize the initiative too often.
The visitors started brightly but Arsenal’s grip on the match tightened. Warnings were still served to the hosts but Ramsey’s introduction injected some bite into the midfield and released the mental shackles placed on his colleagues. Wilshere, Giroud and Walcott all had their chances before Villa bit back. Having denied the visitors in the first half, Szczesny’s culpability in the equaliser is undeniable. An Arsenal corner was cleared, headers exchanged in the centre of the park before Weimann advanced unchallenged, shooting from distance through the hands of Arsenal’s Polish custodian. His failure capped a horrible passage of play, the lack of defensive cover exposed with a poor goal to concede.
Arsène introduced Podolski for Jenkinson as the home side pursued the winner, pegging back the Premier League strugglers, piercing the visitors defence repeatedly. It would be easier to list those whose efforts were not denied by Guzan and his defensive cohorts. And as the clock wore down, Arsenal’s search for the winner became increasingly tense; shots peppered the visitors and as the clock ran down, Wilshere lifted a pass into the path of the ever-dependable Monreal. The Spaniard pulled the cross back into the path of the onrushing Cazorla whose shot found the back of the net with unerring accuracy, points secured.
Post-match, the manager praised the mental attitude of his charges. He has a week to work on the performance levels ahead of next weekend’s North London Derby. The pressure they will be under to achieve a result will be immense, defeat as much unthinkable for pride as next season’s Champions League aspirations.
I understand the concerns over the performance yesterday, the reticence to take the game by the throat and kill it off quickly following Cazorla’s opener. However, steadying the ship following two flaccid cup exits was more important and that required a win. Next weekend’s North London Derby will need performance levels to be improved, especially as it will be crucial to next season’s Champions League aspirations.
’til Tomorrow.
2 points beheind the 3-rd.
Game on.
Having said that, our run in is tougher than it looks. In many corresponding fixtures we dropped points last season.
The away games against mid table teams will decide our finishing position in the league.
I have seem some shocking things in the many years I have watched football – a ginger Fernando Torres brought the game to a new low – the FA must act immediately
Admittedly it may be some form of protest by the Spaniard – even so
I know, Lemons, I know. Still doesn’t make it feel any better.
Because 12 goals, 12 GOALS – that’s all that separates us!
But now we are encroaching on the Chavs. Let’s hope steady, not to say stealthy, does it.
Interesting, HLT. thank you. I still don’ t remember it though and my Dad’s gone too!
‘Good old Arsenal’ came about as a competition on, I think, ‘The Big Match’. Jimmy Hill came up with it. Never liked it much myself.
Asto football, it’s more or less in our hands now.
Consistency will get us to the CL and all that means.
2nd best defensive record in the league:)
Well, it’s safe to say we’re not as fucked as everyone has been claiming eh? 2 points off the Chavs has me believing we’re gonna top them again this year. Can’t wait til we show that diving prick Bale who’s really running London.
HALF TIME LEMONS
February 24, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Great point.
12 goals could equate to to 36 points if entirely comprised of 1-0 victories.
Just think, we’ve managed to grab 9 points with just 4 goals in our last 3 games!
Never thought I’d be wanting Big Sam to do us a favour… Sort of shows the relative decline I suppose. Still whatever, the important thing will be to win at WHL and the psychological swing of that would probably carry us to the CL…
Starting to look forward to and dread it already….
MGK/ CBob – It’s a losing battle; the Americans have won,and that’s alright with me really. I could care less! (Ugh) Some things are hopeless to fight against, such as ‘The birds and the bees’ [Birds and BEASTS please, folks - bees don't have an awful lot of sex!] Somewhat ironically, the Americans are keeping alive things which the English are losing, especially in the weights and measures.
As for the football, the Chavs are still in two cup competitions, which will hopefully keep them occupied while we sneak past in the next month. Not often that anyone here wants a West Ham win, but that would make things fun.
I hope Rafa as always does what is the best for his CV, i.e. goes for the trophies in the Europa League and FA Cup thus neglecting the league.
A nice chap as he is, isn’t he?
If they win both but finish the league below us, nobody will complain here.
Do I hear the faint rippling of revolt at the Bridge ? “He’s outstayed his welcome” and they don’t mean the FSW
Bit silly to get cocky because Chelsea lost today. It’s all about consistency now and we’ve shown absolutely none since the start of the season so to be overly confident is asking for eggs on your face. One thing it does show though is that the ‘crisis’ at this ‘shambles of a club’ may have been exaggerated by some fans and some media outlets. We’re not in the best shape but we have a realistic chance of finishing 3rd for the 2nd season in a row, above Chelsea again who have spent quite a bit more than us in that time.
Imagine what we could do if we bought a few world class players…
Boiled eggs, all over your face.
This was the best result for us. YW, you were rooting for a draw but it helps us more to gain an advantage for 3rd place as there is little benefit between 2nd and 3rd and now we have only two teams a handful of points ahead of us. Since we don’t play Chelsea again, we need them to drop points on their own. Now it is vital that we seize the opportunity that the NLD offers.
It wasn’t that Chelsea lost, it was the way they lost. It was the reaction of the players to being subsistuted, it was the looking around at one another with the “it’s happening again” expression followed by the shrug.
And Torres’ ginger ensemble obviously
I get the jitters every time I think of that upcoming derby. It’s a defining game on numerous levels.
We will be fine.soccer is so unpredictable.sometimes we just need luck and not skill. Manure to be leaders doesnt mean they are always fantastic.championships are won by 3points not by how good were you.let us be happy with three points and move on.SPUDS here we come.is BALE really normal? Spuds better than Arsenal my foot.why cant he just concentrate at things that he is better at.just kicking a round ball and shut his trap.
Maybe Adebayor can get himself red carded again.
It would be nice if Chelski start to implode under fan and player revolts wreaking havoc on morale and, thus, results.
Ideally Arsenal gets 3rd and Everton makes a late charge over collapsing Spuds and Chelsea for 4th. We can dream…
Don’t see us needing any red card to smack the Spuds.
I want the game played with both sides @ full compliment.
We need to give Bale a blatant reason to move to Madrid.
A big congrats to Laudrup & the Swans….well done.
Agree with that, PV but well done to Bradford too.
Magnificent achievement to get there. Good to see football win.
This was a great win for us . this coupled with Everton’s and Chelsea loss we have a real shot at third place. All we need is Tottenham to lose on Monday. look it was a close one . Thank God for Santi’s daily double. We almost didn’t get the “W’. check out bobby gee word press
Jonny 6-30
Agree with that
Missed the game on Sat had to go to Belfast. Get the impression from this site and arseblog (my 2 most trusted sources) that while we deserved to win, we didn’t play particularly well. Still work to be done (where have I heard that before?) just hope after today’s results which I believe we’re good for us, lets hope Mr Chamack and WH can do an even greater favour tomoRrow nite.
” confidence is our best friend, and lack of confidence Is our worst enemy. Both of them are very fragile”
I don’t understand why Wenger would say such a thing. If i am an opposing manager or player I would be grateful for the heads up on the fragile mental state of our players.
Female Socket Weld?
PV, we don’t need it but it would still be very nice if it happened. I would certainly enjoy his latest humiliation at the hands of the Gunners.
JJGSOL
happy PURIM to you and yours. I think you meant redemption of Persian Jews not Babylon. Too bad the game this Sunday ended up 2-0 to the blue mancs. Makes our run on 2nd place a bit more difficult. But I think and believe it can still be done. Stating with a proper dismantling of the spudniks in our next game. Now that rvp is out with a dislocated tushy butt manure will drop points and we can already see chelski and the blue mancs are prone to dropping points here and there. That leaves totteringham and we need to take care of business next week. A good thumping will jump start their annual falling apart in front of their own fans. Two months left in the season but for me the team has to approach every game as a must win to have a chance at 2nd. And hope lady luck smiles our way a bit. Over all a righteous weekend this was and hope it continues on the same pattern.
UP. THE RED&WHITE!!!!!!!
AND
PURPLE REIGN !!!!!!!!!!!
“check out bobby gee word press…”
I can’t wait to not check out your shitty blog!
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk/?p=10703
Today’s post
@Phil, I’ll tell you why Wenger comes up with ludicrous quotes like the “confidence” garbage that came spewing out at his last press conference. It’s because the old man has completely lost his marbles and is certainly in no fit state to be making every major decision made by the 6th biggest football club on this planet.